NEWSLETTER #118 / JUNE 10, 2018
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FACEBOOK LIES, NOBODY CARES
"Facebook Gave Out User Data Despite Pledge" The Wall Street Journal
"Facebook Gave Data Access To Chinese Firm Flagged By U.S. Intelligence" The New York Times
"Facebook Gave Device Makers Deep Access To Data On Users And Friends" The New York Times
This week, Facebook's duplicity and irresponsibility were featured three times in front page stories in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. But you'd never know it if all you read was the idiotic nonsense coming from the people who keep Facebook afloat -- the marketing and advertising industry.
Despite the fact that Facebook is the ad industry's elephant in the room, reviewing last week's 4A's SmartBrief (the ad agency trade group's daily newsletter) I couldn't find a single mention of any of the alarming Facebook stories. Instead I was treated to fascinating insights on critical issues like "How To Reach Gen Z On Social" and whether it's "Time To Move The Cannes Lions Out Of Cannes."
The "leaders" of the advertising and marketing industry are not just on the wrong side of every important issue, they seem not to know what the important issues are.
And While We're Kicking The 4A's Around...
Let's have a look at how the 4A's is adopting the sleazy practices of the online media industry. Take a peek at this excerpt from their "SmartBrief" from a few weeks ago.
If you weren't paying exquisite attention, you may not have noticed that the so-called "FEATURED CONTENT" about the magnificence of Twitter is not news at all. It's an ad. See that little "Sponsored content by Twitter" thing in the small type in the very light shade of grey? That means, "This bullshit is an ad." But it's an ad that's made to look exactly like the editorial content of the newsletter.
This is how the online media industry does its very best to blur the lines between editorial and advertising (like those ads you get from Google when you think you're getting search results -- see BadMen.)
It's very disheartening to see that the 4A's not only defends this sleazy crap, it actually practices it.
And if I may be allowed one last moment of infantile bellyaching... one of the reasons I loathe the word "content" is that it creates an equivalence between editorial and advertising (they're both "content") that allows creepy marketers and media to blur the lines and hide behind this false equivalence. For more ranting on why I hate the c-word, go here.
Let's Be Fair
It's not right to kick the 4A's around without giving equal time to their pals in the ANA (Association of National Advertisers.)
This week the ANA doubled down on surveillance marketing and data abuse by acquiring the DMA (Data and Marketing Association, or as it was once known, the Direct Marketing Association.)
However, if you're like me and you enjoy a good laugh, there was a second story about the ANA this week that was really wonderful. It was reported this week that the ANA, who are supposed to be on the leading edge of marketing and represent all that is right and virtuous in the marketing industry, has a website that is not GDPR compliant. They had two years to get this done. No, you can't make this shit up.
An Unsavory Popularity
Last week we had a very popular post on The Ad Contrarian blog. It was about the silliness of social media marketing beliefs and was called "Advertising's Edifice Of Nonsense." You can find it here.
Annoying In Any Language
This week, the Royal-Pain-In-The-Ass World Tour travels to Oslo where I'll be speaking Thursday at the ADTECH: Programmatisk 2018 conference. Just by the title you can tell that hundreds of digital savants will be treated to the pleasure of hating every word I have to say. Should be fun.
